Inspirational Words: How to welcome challenges into your life

This week’s positive word

on our A-Z Inspirational Journey …

W is for

WELCOME

Today I wanted to talk to you about welcoming challenges into your life … you may be thinking that doesn’t sound very positive! How on earth can challenges be positive?

Challenges are draining, exhausting, depressing … sound familiar?

Well, in this blog post I want you to think about challenges in a completely different light. I want you to imagine that the challenges you are facing are the pinnacle of what will make your life better.

You may feel as if this is not possible, your challenges are far too big. But I’ll ask one question: Are you seriously ill? If you are, I send you all the love in the world and wish you a healthy future. I truly appreciate you reading my blog and I hope you find some inspiration from the posts. I’d also advise you go to the Hay House website, if you haven’t already and read ‘You Can Heal Your Life’ by Louise Hay, and you can also read Louise Hay Interview with The Telegraph here (the journalist is a little bit sceptical but you can’t knock Louise Hay for her vibrant, inspiring encouragement). I’m not saying Louise Hay will cure you, but she will help you look at life a little differently.

So if you’re not seriously ill but are facing challenges that are making you ill, such as financial pressure, work difficulties, relationship problems, there is way to look at these aspects of your life differently. You may feel I’ve lightened your issues by asking if you’re seriously ill – quite the opposite. I understand the sleepless nights, the physically feeling sick with worry, the head that aches because you feel as if it’s in a vice … yes, hands-up, I’ve been there. I’ve been at a point where my problems have made me ill.

But since learning about the Law of Attraction and positive thinking I’ve realised that sweating the small, or big stuff, can actually make things a whole lot worse. It’s best to let it all go and welcome any disruptions, challenges or changes head on. Imagine they are there for a reason.

Now, that’s not me saying ignore the problems in your life, bury them under your skin, don’t let them affect you, that will never work because then they become deep rooted issues, issues that take over your world unconsciously, which is worse than addressing them and thinking about them consciously. Now don’t get me wrong, I still face challenges … I bet Louise Hay, and her team, still have a challenge or two, however, it’s how we deal with these challenges that makes the difference to our lives.

Imagine if you were to welcome and embrace any challenge into your life, imagine you were going to learn something from the challenge. Welcome the change it will bring to you.

In this week’s therapeutic writing exercise, let’s look at:

HOW YOU CAN WELCOME CHALLENGES INTO YOUR LIFE

1/ WRITE DOWN YOUR CHALLENGES: Write down what challenges you are facing at the moment, this could be a list of more than one challenge, an individual sentence will be sufficient at this stage.

2/ TAKE ONE CHALLENGE APART: Sometimes we are so overwhelmed with a particular challenge that we can’t face welcoming it, because we don’t know where it starts or ends. So break it down. Take one of your challenges, maybe at this stage one of the challenges that you feel may be easily fixed, as this will encourage you to move onto more challenging challenges. Bullet point the parts that are upsetting you, making you angry or making you feel helpless.

3/ ACKNOWLEDGE THOSE FEELINGS: Why am I asking you to acknowledge these feelings? Because these are the feelings that are holding you back. You can’t move on and face these challenges while you keep all this anger, worthlessness or whatever it is you’re feeling, pent-up inside of you. You must welcome those feelings. Those feelings are there for a reason, so they must be welcomed so you can help solve the challenges.

So acknowledge that you are angry because … or you are hurt because …

Write these feelings down. Scribble away at this stage to your heart’s content. Imagine you are John Coffey from the Green Mile, releasing all those awful bugs and letting go of the nastiness. Dramatic? But whatever helps you understand you are a wonderful being and that all this ‘stuff’ isn’t you, then imagine releasing the toxins in the best way you see fit. Imagine as your pen scrawls across the paper you are releasing the toxins: the bugs.

4/ WHAT CAN YOU LEARN?

Now, let’s look at what you can learn from the challenges. Imagine these challenges are happening for a reason, they are part of your life lessons. Ask yourself questions to help prompt some answers, such as:

Should you be more grateful?

Are you focusing on too many negatives?

Are you looking at all opportunities available to you?

What can YOU DO to make your days better?

Are you in the wrong job?

What job would you like to do?

Do you need to make more effort in your relationship or do you need to move on?

I understand these are basic questions that may feel like I’m making light of certain challenges, but these basic questions can lead to your wants; they can help you focus on the solution rather than the problem. Too many people focus on the negative rather than the positive (you can read the positive thoughts post here) which can lead to them thinking their challenges are bigger than they are. Again, that’s not me dismissing what you’re feeling, as our emotions make us heightened to what is actually bothering us. However, let’s take these challenges and ask yourself, ‘What welcomed learning can I take from this?’ What have you learnt, or can you learn, from the challenges you are facing? What can you welcome into your life from these challenges?

5/ MEDITATE:Okay, you may be thinking, how can I meditate now you’ve just let me overload about how upset I am? And what I can learn from things … I’ve now too much to think about … if these are your thoughts … STOP!

At this stage breathe. Breathe deeply and close your eyes. If you haven’t mastered the art of meditation, this is the time in your life to start. Meditation will help you release all that pent-up overload that is fogging your brain. Meditation will help you release negativity and fill you with positivity. It helps to unload all that blackness that could actually be creating the challenges that don’t need to be there. You must welcome calmness into your life to enable you to learn anything from your challenges.

6/ TURN YOUR LEARNING INTO AFFIRMATIONS: If you’ve read my blog posts you’ll know that I’m a lover of affirmations. I surround myself with positivity. My office walls are full of inspiring messages. I awake to affirmations by my bedside. I have affirmations at my desk. I have affirmations everywhere. I must mention, Louise Hay again, but she is the ultimate guru on affirmations. So this is where you can really turn your challenge into a positive. Write out what you want from these challenges, for example,

I am so grateful for … (fill in blank: work, family, relationship etc.)

I am in a loving relationship.

I am financially-free.

I am a grateful, positive person who sees the good in all.

You decide what it is you want from your life. You decide what you can learn from these challenges.

Get excited about the challenges and seek something from them, it’ll be there waiting for you to discover it and you should welcome the learning with open arms.